This 20 acre former NATO missile base is now a nature
area and country park for artists, poets, composers and scientists
who live and work on the site. The House for Music is a building
dedicated to musicians.

The Stiftung (Foundation) Insel Hombroich is the owner of both,
the Museum Insel Hombroich and the Raketenstation Hombroich.

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Raimund Abraham wanted the building to reflect all the external
forces of nature and to shield the interior from the exterior. In
order to achieve a monolithic and sculptural character he used
concrete as building material.

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Photo: Thomas Mayer

The entrance towards the east leads to the courtyard where a
circular, inclined concrete slab, 33 meters in diameter, seems to
float above the building. At the center of the concrete slab is a
recess in the form of an equilateral triangle, with side lengths of
17 meters.

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Photo: Thomas Mayer

The summit of the inner triangular in the roof points directly
to the watchtower of the earlier military base.

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Two stair towers at the corner of the triangle provides access
to four apartments for musicians, a recording studio and practice
rooms, arranged in a circle under the concrete roof.

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Under the fictitious center of the triangle is a round glass
covered skylight that provides light to a 5 x 5 meter underground
performance space.

Photo: Thomas Mayer

The idea for Museum Insel Hombroich, based on a combination of
art, architecture and nature, came from real estate broker and art
collector Karl-Heinrich Müller.

The Langen Foundation on the site, designed by Tadao Ando, is a
private foundation that does not belong to the Stiftung Insel
Hombroich.

Photo: arcspace

The House for Music was presented at the Biannual International
Architecture Exhibition in Venice in 1996. However, it was to be 10
years before construction started. Currently considered a completed
shell completion is planned for 2013.

Raimund Abraham was killed in a car crash in downtown Los Angeles
in 2010 after lecturing at SCI-Arc. The House for Music was his
last building.